The report, quoting a statement by an unidentified Chinese official made on Monday, comes during a visit by Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki.

Saiki’s visit is the latest in a series of efforts by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to improve relations soured by the bitter row over uninhabited islands claimed by both countries.

The hawkish Abe, who cemented his grip on power in an election last week, has been signaling a desire for dialogue with China – even though Japan has raised its assessment of the risk of China’s military buildup and maritime assertiveness.

The unidentified Chinese official urged the Japanese government to take concrete measures to improve strained ties rather than “empty slogans”, the China Daily report said.

It also said statements by Abe adviser Isao Iijima that a summit between Abe and President Xi Jinping could occur in the “not-too-distant future”, based on conversations with Chinese officials in Beijing in mid-July, were misleading.

A Japanese foreign ministry source in Tokyo said he had not seen the China Daily report and could not comment on it directly, but said it was still possible a summit could be held “at an appropriate time”.

“It is true no concrete date is set for a leaders’ summit or foreign ministers’ summit,” the Japanese source said. “But this does not mean there will never be one in the future.”

China’s foreign ministry also said in a statement on its website on Monday that Iijima had not met any Chinese government officials recently, contrary to reports on Sunday.

The China Daily quoted the unidentified Chinese official as saying: “What Iijima told reporters on Sunday is not true and is fabricated, based on the needs of Japan’s domestic politics.”

Friction between China and Japan over the disputed islands has intensified in recent years. The election of Abe, perceived as reorienting Japan towards a confrontational posture in regard to Beijing, was not welcomed by the Chinese government.

Abe is also perceived in China as being insufficiently or insincerely apologetic for Japan’s past militarism.

Foreign critics have also accused the Chinese Communist Party of manipulating domestic opinion through anti-Japanese propaganda and film to buttress its own legitimacy.

The China Daily is an English language publication put out by the Chinese government for foreign consumption.

The hawkish Abe, who cemented his grip on power in an upper house election last week, has since then been signaling a desire for dialogue – even though Japan has raised its assessment of the risk of China’s military buildup and maritime assertiveness.

On Friday, Abe called for an unconditional meeting between Japanese and Chinese leaders – a proposal he repeated on Monday, according to Kyodo news agency. It said Abe had instructed diplomats to work towards that goal.

On Sunday, Isao Iijima, an adviser to the premier, told reporters that Abe could soon hold a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said no schedule had been set.

“As Prime Minister Abe has repeatedly said, he wants a mutually beneficial, strategic relationship and the door is always open for dialogue.

“However, there is no immediate schedule for a leadership summit,” Suga told a news conference on Monday.

Often fragile Sino-Japanese ties have been seriously strained since September, when a territorial row over tiny islands in the East China Sea flared following Japan’s nationalization of the uninhabited isles.

Concern that Abe, who came to power in December, wants to recast Japan’s wartime history with a less apologetic tone has added to the tension.

“Vice Minister Saiki will visit China on July 29-30 and exchange views with Chinese officials,” a Japanese foreign ministry spokesman said. He did not give further details.

China’s Foreign Ministry responded to Abe’s overture on Friday by saying its door was always open for talks but that the problem lay in Japan’s attitude.

Japan should “stop using empty slogans about so-called dialogue to gloss over disagreements”, the ministry said in a statement faxed to Reuters.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China and Japan sought to cool down tensions over a chafing territorial dispute on Friday, with Communist Party chief Xi Jinping telling an envoy from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he was committed to developing bilateral ties.

Xi will consider holding a summit meeting with Abe, Natsuo Yamaguchi, a senior lawmaker and head of the junior partner in Japan’s ruling coalition, told reporters after his talks with the Chinese leader.
The meeting came as China took the dispute over a series of uninhabited islands to the United Nations.
It was not immediately clear if the U.N. involvement would increase the likelihood the row would be resolved peacefully. But launching an international legal process could reduce the temperature for now.
At China’s request, the United Nations will, later this year, consider the scientific validity of a claim by Beijing that the islands, called the Diaoyu in Chinese and the Senkaku by Japan, are part of its territory. Japan says the world body should not be involved.
“The China government’s policy to pay close attention to China-Japan relations has not changed,” Xi told Yamaguchi at the meeting in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, according to a statement on the Chinese foreign ministry’s website.
But he added: “The Japanese side ought to face up to history and reality, take practical steps and work hard with China to find an effective way to appropriately resolve and manage the issue via dialogue and consultations.”
China’s media have portrayed the territorial dispute as an emotional touchpoint for Chinese people that evokes memories of Japan’s 1931-1945 occupation of parts of the mainland. Chinese textbooks, television and films are full of portrayals vilifying the Japanese.
Relations between the countries, the world’s second- and third-largest economies, plunged after the Japanese government bought three of the islands from a private owner last year, sparking widespread, violent anti-Japan protests across China. Some Japanese businesses were looted and Japanese citizens attacked.
Yamaguchi handed a letter from to Xi from Abe, who wrote that he hoped to develop peaceful relations between the two countries, Yamaguchi said.
BROAD VIEW
Japan takes a broad view of the issue and believes tensions can be resolved between the two countries, he told reporters before returning to Tokyo after a four-day visit.
“Japan wishes to pursue ties with China while looking at the big picture,” Yamaguchi said he told Xi, who is set to take over as China’s president in March.
“I firmly believe our differences with China can be resolved,” Yamaguchi said, adding that he did not directly discuss the islands issue with Xi.
“We agreed that it is important to continue dialogue with the aim of holding a Japan-China summit between the two leaders,” he added, though no specific details were given. “Secretary Xi said he will seriously consider a high-level dialogue with Japan.”
While Yamaguchi has no formal position in the government, he is leader of relatively dovish New Komeito party, a coalition partner of the Liberal Democratic Party that was voted to power in December.
Taking the issue to the United Nations is an effort to underscore China’s legal claim to the islands, but also a way to reduce tensions in the region, said Ruan Zongze, deputy director of the China Institute of International Studies, a think-tank affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“It’s two things: it’s part of the legal efforts, and we want to exert our legal claim in a less confrontational way,” Ruan said. “We don’t want to see escalation, particularly with fighter jets. That would be very dangerous from any point of view.”
In a submission to the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, China claims that the continental shelf in the East China Sea is a natural prolongation of China’s land territory and that it includes the disputed islands.
Under the U.N. convention, a country can extend its 200-nautical-mile economic zone if it can prove that the continental shelf is a natural extension of its land mass. The U.N. commission assesses the scientific validity of claims, but any disputes have to be resolved between states, not by the commission.
(Additional reporting by Michael Martina,; editing by Jonathan Standing and Raju Gopalakrishnan)